verb

I'm sometimes asked if I'd be frightened of walking through a jungle and being spiked by a thorn.

We do not have to spike the trees, carry protest signs, or write angry letters to our representatives.

Make a note of such spots and on a dry day go out with a garden fork and spike the areas by pushing into the lawn to a depth of about 15 cm and rocking gently back and forth before pulling out the fork.

Origin

In the noun sense ‘a sharp-pointed piece of metal or wood’ spike derived from Dutch or German. The verb came later, in the early 17th century. To spike someone's guns is to thwart their plans. This expression refers to the practice of disabling cannons captured from the enemy. A spike was driven into the small hole through which the charge was ignited, making it impossible to fire the gun. To spike someone's drink, first recorded in the late 19th century, is based on the idea of making a drink ‘sharper’. See also spoke

Origin

In the noun sense ‘a sharp-pointed piece of metal or wood’ spike derived from Dutch or German. The verb came later, in the early 17th century. To spike someone's guns is to thwart their plans. This expression refers to the practice of disabling cannons captured from the enemy. A spike was driven into the small hole through which the charge was ignited, making it impossible to fire the gun. To spike someone's drink, first recorded in the late 19th century, is based on the idea of making a drink ‘sharper’. See also spoke